Politics Senior Thesis Seminar
Things to Include in The Prospectus

1. Abstract (also to be included with the first and final drafts of the paper)

A one-paragraph summary of the paper.

2. Keywords

Three or four words indicating the topic, theoretical framework, and empirical content of the paper.

3. Brief overview of the paper

In regular English prose students should describe the empirical subject matter of the paper, the interesting questions that need to be answered, the theoretical and analytical issues that will be addressed, and how the paper will contribute to a better understanding of the empirical subject matter and theoretical debates that are engaged.

4. Overview of the theoretical literature (the “literature review”)

By theoretical literature what is meant are books, articles, papers, etc. that review the main schools of thought that potentially explain the general class of events into which the paper’s subject matter falls. That is to say, in most cases in political science there are contending theories, paradigms, and schools of thought to explain some aspect of politics. The explanation for the specific case or event that will be studied in each student’s senior thesis in most cases will reside in one or more of those broad theories, paradigms, and schools of thought. What is to be reviewed in the theoretical literature review are broad-based explanations for a large aspect of politics into which the paper’s subject matter falls, but not necessarily explanations for the paper’s specific topic.

5. Preview of the empirical research

Students will not have done extensive empirical research at this point, but they should indicate where they intend to look for their research materials.

6. Outline

Each student’s outline will differ, however, most projects of this nature follow a fairly standard outline: Introduction; Brief statement of the empirical question; Review of the theoretical literature; Empirical research; Analysis of the theoretical literature in light of the empirical research; Conclusion. Each of these should be fleshed out in greater detail in the outline due with the prospectus.

7. Bibliography

List of materials consulted to date.